Surjit S Bhalla Takes Apart Leftist, Dhimmi, Crony Indian Media

In an op-ed article in the Indian Express of today, Surjit S Bhalla rips into Indian media the way only Surjit S Bhalla can. The article exposes all the lies being propagated by media, and also proves that Rahul Gandhi is lying about Green Revolution and Minimum Support Prices.

The article must be read by all those who wish to know facts about the Land Acquisition Bill, media propaganda on it, and Congress perfidy on everything.

"I have been an active participant in the media (both print and TV) for the last 30 years. But never before have I been as embarrassed to be a part of the media as I was on Wednesday, April 24, the day of the suicide of a farmer at a political rally organised by the AAP.

For me, a suicide is one of the most difficult events to comprehend. Suicides are complex; there are often multiple factors involved. They can rarely, if ever, be attributed to one thing. If this is close to accepted wisdom, then what public policy implications can we draw from it? None. It is insensitive and logically, ethically and morally wrong (just plain wrong) for politicians, journalists and even the aam aurat to derive any policy conclusions from such a tragedy. An accident can yield insights into public policy — a suicide, never.

The Congress and AAP were the worst offenders, arguing for a direct linkage of the suicide to poor farmer distress and the BJP’s attempt to introduce the land acquisition bill. And the media, especially TV, gleefully joined in support of this. Is there no shame left?

Part of the problem with mainstream media is that it is considerably left of centre in its ideology. On the face of it, there is nothing wrong with having an ideology, as long as one is consistent. However, the problem begins when this same left of centre media revels in pro-poor rhetoric of the sort demonstrated on Wednesday. Paraphrasing its angst, “the suicide shows how the BJP government is out of touch with the needs of the poor; don’t they see the distress caused to the farmers by the pro-rich and pro-corporate policies the BJP is pursuing”. The politician sayeth, and the glib media agreeth, that now is not the time to bring in the land acquisition bill because it will add further to farmer distress.

Notice the “logic”in the media’s pronouncements. Farmer distress and farmer suicides have occurred for centuries — and without the push to suicide by land being acquired. So what caused those previous suicides? The reason behind the amendment of the Congress bill of 2013 is that it was stillborn. No purchase by public authorities or the sale of land by the farmer has taken place under the 2013 act. The farmer — and India— is yet to have a modern land acquisition act." (from the article)

Read the whole article here.